Everybody knew this was coming. What are we thinking?
Posted Oct 23rd 2006 7:06PM by Cyrus Farivar
Filed
under: Misc. Gadgets, Wireless
RFID has been riddled
with so
many
problems,
it’s amazing that anyone
even has a shred of confidence in this technology at all. Our latest security
problem du jour is that credit card companies are apparently
issuing plastic that relays your digits wirelessly; as you might have guessed,
security researchers are checking into this, and in a demonstration for The
New York Times, easily hacked a University of Massachusetts computer
science professor’s newfangled RFID credit card. In short order (and with his
permission), a researcher working with RSA Labs was able to steal the
professor’s name and credit card number that was being transmitted in cleartext
– thereby poking massive holes in Visa, MasterCard and American Express’ claims
that these card include “the highest level of encryption allowed by the U.S.
government.” Predictably, the credit card companies have already dismissed
claims that the populus will be greatly affected by this hack. Brian Triplett,
senior vice president for emerging-product development for Visa, told the Gray
Lady: “This is an interesting technical exercise, but as a real threat to a
consumer - that threat really doesn’t exist.” Well, Brian, care to put your
plastic where your mouth is?
[Via TechDirt]
Source: Researchers
hack RFID credit cards. Big surprise. - Engadget
